Don Baylor was always a team player. While in the MLB, he had a career that spanned nearly two decades and spent 19 seasons in the league playing for six different teams. Regardless of where he was playing, one thing rang true: everyone respected him. He was a strong figure in baseball and held a natural prowess that helped lead his teams to many victories.
So, naturally, it was quite a blow to hear he’d passed from a little-known illness, multiple myeloma, while still in his prime as a coach in 2017. He was 68.
Baylor was open about his battle and was an advocate for awareness about the rare form of cancer. Here’s more information about the illness.
What is multiple myeloma?
Multiple myeloma is cancer that forms in a type of white blood cell called a plasma cell. Healthy plasma cells help you fight infections by making antibodies that recognize and attack germs.
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In multiple myeloma, cancerous plasma cells accumulate in the bone marrow and crowd out healthy blood cells. Rather than produce helpful antibodies, the cancer cells produce abnormal proteins that can cause complications.
Treatment for multiple myeloma isn't always necessary right away because the cancer isn’t always immediately aggressive. If the patient is asymptomatic, physicians may watch the illness closely instead of launching into a treatment plan.
Causes for the illness are still undetermined.
What researchers do know is that myeloma typically starts out with one abnormal plasma cell in the bone marrow — the soft, blood-producing tissue that fills in the center of most of the bones. From there, the abnormal cells replicate quickly and cause issues in the immune system.
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Because cancer cells don't have the same life span as normal cells, they accumulate, eventually slowing the production of healthy cells. In the bone marrow, myeloma cells crowd out healthy blood cells, leading to fatigue and an inability to fight infections.
The myeloma cells continue trying to produce antibodies, as healthy plasma cells do, but the myeloma cells produce abnormal antibodies that the body can't use. Instead, the abnormal antibodies (monoclonal proteins, or M proteins) build up in the body and cause problems such as damage to the kidneys. Cancer cells can also cause damage to the bones that increases the risk of broken bones.
What are the risk factors?
Factors that may increase your risk of multiple myeloma include:
- Getting older - Risk increases as in older, as most people diagnosed in their mid-60s.
- Being a man - Men are more likely to develop the disease than women.
- Being Black - Black people are more likely to develop multiple myeloma than people of other races. The reason is still unclear.
- Genetics - If the immediate family had previously been diagnosed with multiple myeloma, you have an increased risk of the disease.
- Link to monoclonal gammopathy of undetermined significance (MGUS) - Multiple myeloma almost always starts out as MGUS, so having this condition increases risk.
How is it treated?
According to Cancer.org, patients with active myeloma or light chain amyloidosis are often given a combination of 2 or 3 drugs. The drugs chosen depend on the patient’s health (including their kidney function) and whether a stem cell transplant is planned.
When offered a combination containing bortezomib, lenalidomide, and dexamethasone, the cocktail can be especially helpful in patients with kidney problems and those whose myeloma cells contain certain high-risk chromosome abnormalities.
Treatment for bone disease (bisphosphonates) as caused by myeloma is often started along with chemo. If the areas of damaged bone continue to cause symptoms, radiation therapy may be used.
Transfusions and stem cell transplants may be part of treatment plans for myeloma patients as well.
